Photography, Imaging, 3D and 3D Printing

Archive for September, 2014

The Hasselblad ShootLDN event is back again this year. ShootLDN will be up and running 22nd and 23rd October at the Truman brewery, London (address details at the end of this post and on the ShootLDN event page).

We have been working hard to make sure that our talks are relevant to today’s photographer, with some other exciting advancements built in as well. The Adobe mini theatre will be at the event and will be running a range of talks on both of the days. All talks are free and will run for 20 to 25 minutes, and are a first come first served basis.

Adobe Mini Theatre Schedule (subject to change)

11:00 – Lightroom and Photoshop retouching workflow

11:30 – Wacom tablets with Photoshop and Lightroom

12:00 – What is the Creative Cloud Photography Plan?

12:30 – Raising your game using Creative Cloud and Behance

13:00 – Lightroom and Lightroom Mobile

13:30 – 3D Printing for Photographers

14:00 – Colour Management – Perfecting your workflow

14:30 – New features in Photoshop for Photographers

15:00 – Video Editing in Photoshop

15:30 – Lightroom and Photoshop retouching workflow

16:00 – Colour Management – Perfecting your workflow with DataColor

16:30 – Beauty retouching with Karl Taylor (Wednesday only)

16:30 – Lightroom and Photoshop retouching workflow (Thursday only)

17:30 – What is the Creative Cloud Photography Plan?

Talks are 20 minutes each with 5 mins for Q&A

Lightroom and Photoshop retouching workflow.

In the past few releases in the Creative Cloud, Lightroom and Photoshop have seen workflow improvements for Photographers. This session, hosted by a re-touching expert, will look in detail at the new tools and explain how to improve your post production/re-touching workflows, to create even more beautiful images.

Wacom tablets with Photoshop and Lightroom.

A Wacom tablet can be essential to the modern way of editing photographs and working with your images. The Wacom tablet offers lots of control, elegance and precision when working with your photographs and allow you to spend less time in post production and more time behind the camera. This talk will explain how the Wacom tablets can be configured and used, to allow you to work faster with more precision in your Photoshop and Lightroom workflow.

What is the Creative Cloud Photography Plan?

The Adobe Photography Plan includes more than just Lightroom and Photoshop. In fact, it has been designed to include all the tools required to survive in the modern photographic world. This talk will demonstrate and break down what is included as part of the Adobe Photography Plan and explain how it works, as well as some of the new features that are available in Lightroom and Photoshop and new opportunities for both the Professional and Amateur photographer.

Raising your game using Creative Cloud and Behance.

Online portfolios, mobile devices and social networks are a great way to show case your work as a photographer, as well as engaging your audience and building your photographic brand. The Adobe Photography Plan contains all of the tools you need to make your images look great, as well as including modern ways of showing off your work, either on the web, using social networks or on mobile devices. The Behance platform is part of the Adobe Photography Plan, and a great way to show off your work, as well as an way to engage the existing community of image makers of all disciplines. This session will walk you through how the system works, how to place content in Behance from Photoshop and Lightroom, and how you can use it to raise your profile as a photographer or digital artist.

Lightroom and Lightroom Mobile.

Lightroom mobile is a new addition to the Adobe Photography Plan and is available free for both the iPhone and the iPad. Mobile viewing, as well as editing your photographs, without being tied to the desktop version of Lightroom is enabling photographers to work in very different ways. This talk will walk you through how to set up and configure Lightroom mobile, as well as how it can be used as part of your editing workflow.

3D Printing in Photoshop for Photographers.

3D Printing is taking the world by storm, and this technology is opening up new creative ideas for Photographers. In early 2014 Photoshop gained the ability to create/print 3D objects using a variety of printers, materials and services. This talk will walk you through 3D printing in Photoshop with examples of how Photographers can embrace it in their work.

Colour Management – Perfecting your workflow with DataColor

This session is brought in conjunction with Adobe and Datacolor and will provide an end to end solution for colour management. We will explain how colour management can easily be incorporated into your workflow from ‘in the camera’, to the screen and finishing at the printer and transform your workflow forever. This session will ensure that you are able to make perfect looking prints every time.

New features in Photoshop for Photographers

In the Creative Cloud, Lightroom and Photoshop updates have both seen the addition of new tools for Photographers. This session will look in detail at the new tools and explain how to improve your post production/re-touching, to create even more beautiful images.Photo editing and retouching techniques can always be improved by embracing new innovation that is available in software.

Video Editing in Photoshop.

We all have cameras that are able to create stunning photographs, and many can now record stunning HD quality video too. This session will show how you can import your video clips into Photoshop and use your existing Photoshop skills to edit and create a compelling short film.

Beauty Retouching and workflow with Karl Taylor.

In this one hour presentation Karl Taylor shares his workflow and techniques for beauty retouching. In particular he will share the importance of burn and dodge techniques as well as high frequency and low frequency layers for skin repair work. He will also describe the importance of evaluating your image and identifying what is important and what is not.

Summary

The Hasselblad ShootLDN event was an amazing success for everyone last year and we think that this year will be even better. The whole event is free, so why not come down and see what’s going on. There will be lots of people to talk with, including an amazing range of talented photographers, Wacom, Data Color and of course representatives from Adobe will be there as well.

Event Location

F Block – G4

Ely’s Yard
Dray Walk
The Old Truman Brewery
Brick Lane
London E1 6QL

More travel information, can be found on the ShootLDN Travel Info page.

In this post, I’ll work to create this image from scratch and see where we end up. You can see that it’s a very simple design, with just the shadow adding great impact to the image.

To start, we will just take a simple character, in this case a tilde sign ‘~’, place it as a text element on the canvas and extrude it as a 3D object. Once the text has been entered, the 3D button (marked in red) can be clicked.

You will see that the object has been placed on the ground plane (the grid). Photoshop has automatically created the ground plane as well as a simple infinite light source for you. Photoshop has also automatically created basic textures and faces of the object. In the image that we are trying to re-create, there is a nice textured background that will be used for the shadows and interest as well as a place holder for the object.

To create a background, insert (either by using Place Linked or Place Embedded (available in Photoshop CC), a background texture. I am just going to use a picture of some concrete (just a simple JPG).

This is then placed in Photoshop onto a separate layer and extruded as a postcard (using a postcard is the most simplest 3D object and is perfect to be used as a background). The postcard extrusion is available on the Photoshop menu 3D / New Mesh from Layer / Postcard.

Once the conversion has finished, the new 3D layer (marked red below) will be created and Photoshop will move into 3D mode.

N.B. 3D in photoshop navigation and tools are available on the Move tool, you can also access this by pressing the ‘V’ key at any time.

You will notice that there are now 2 3D layers, and the top layer is obstructing the view of the other(s). To create a single 3D layer that will contain both objects, select the first 3D layer*1, then select the new 3D layer to be added.

*1 : The order by which the layers are added is important. The first layer selected will be the one used for any lighting rigs and IBL (Image Based Lights) within the final scene. Which means, if you have a lighting rig set up in the first layer, then you may want to use this lighting rig, as opposed to a new 3D layer. In this case, the layer with the lighting rig will need to be selected first.

Once the layers have been selected (marked red and in the correct order), choose from the Photoshop menu 3D / Merge 3D Layers (marked yellow)

A single 3D Layer will exist the Layers panel which contains both 3D objects in this example.

Obviously in the final comp the white areas won’t be needed, therefore we can move the camera backward and forwards by using the ‘Dolly camera’ marked red below (the tool marked in yellow will move the camera up and down. The tool on the left of these tools is used to orbit the camera around the scene. In this example below, the camera was moved to the right and then dolly’d (a little bit of playing around here might be needed to get the object in the right place).

As well as the ability to move the camera, the objects can be moved independently as well (or as a whole). Selecting just the tilde ‘~’ object by clicking directly on it, will bring up a navigator tool and allow you to freely move it up, down, left, right, forward and backwards in the scene (more on this later). In the following example the tilde object has been selected and moved to a better position by using the on canvas widget/navigator.

Lights exist around the perimeter of the working space, and can be selected by clicking on them (marked in red below). In the example below, an infinite light is used, moving the light around can be achieved by clicking on the light icon, then grabbing the on canvas widget marked yellow and dragging it. This will allow the light to be moved freely around the scene, also, by holding the SHIFT key and dragging directly on the canvas is another way of moving the lights (Holding the SHIFT key will allow you to position the light and shadows directly where it needs to be).

Within the screen shot shown above, the shadows are highly pixelated. So that Photoshop is not having to render high quality shadows and only when it needs to do (i.e. on the Render), I have the shadows as low quality. I find this setting gives me a balance of performance and ability to see where the shadows will be in the rendered. The Photoshop 3D Preferences are available from the Photoshop menu.

The area marked in yellow tells Photoshop how much video RAM to use, remember in Photoshop CC you will need at least 1GB of VRAM to run the 3D engine. The Shadow quality is configurable in the area marked in red.

Once the images are placed into a single 3D layer, you may have a couple of issues to contend with. Based on one model size to the other can result in models being located nearer or further away than initially expected. Also, as in the example here, the objects are straddling the ground plane. The ground plane intersection will show up on the renderer, so the objects ideally need to be moved about the ground plane. First thing is to position the 3D objects above the ground plane. To do this, hold the SHIFT key down and selecting the objects that need to be moved (in this case the tilde and the background). Then choose from the Photoshop menu 3D / Move objects to ground plane. The objects will snap upwards/downwards spending where the ground plane is.

Then using the 3D navigation tools, move the camera (marked in red) or the objects back into place (don’t forget that the on canvas navigation widgets can be used either on all objects, or individually by directly selecting each one). If for some reason when you select the objects, the widget (as below) is not shown, then press the V key until it’s shown.

As we start to work on the lights, it might be worth while improving the materials used in the background. For this I am going to try something of medium reflective quality, some thing bright and something that will be enhanced with the concrete texture. To do this, i need to remove the existing texture and replace with a base material.

To add a new base material, click on the background object (the concrete in this case), until the navigation widget is shown. Click again to access the material properties, once there, a new material can be selected (marked pink) from the properties of the 3D object’s face that was clicked (remember this object is a postcard, but has a front, back and side (these are faces)). Then I have chosen the Gold Material (marked green), the effect on the background can bee seen below.

Once the base material is there, the texture can be replaced with the concrete texture by clicking on the texture options (marked red) and choosing replace texture (marked yellow), then choosing the appropriate texture (concrete for this example). The colour of the diffuse property can be changed by clicking on the colour selector (marked blue), then choosing a colour from the colour picker (marked green). Also, as there will be a light in the scene, depending on what the final effect needs to be, a white light might be needed, or a in fact a colour one. In the following example, I want to have the yellow colour to be used for any specular display. The new background, material and colour can be seen below.

The lights can be move to a better position to create the hard shadow(s) from the tilda object. As the infinite light is moved, the shadows will be seen in realtime, and will be cast across the background. To create a long shadow, the light needs to be moved near to the surface of the ground plane, however, the scene might go very dim when this is done. This could be down to a few things :-

In order to create the long shadow the light needs to be lowered/heightened in relationship to the height of the tilde (don’t forget we are in 3D space here, so the tilda has a Z height, which is not visible from this top view).

As in the example the viewer will not see the height of the Tilde in the final scene, therefore, it doesn’t matter how high or low it is from the ground plane (as long as it has a long enough Z extrusion to create a full shadow and not have any gaps). The light can then be moved higher in the scene, which will brighten the background, but reduce the length of the shadow, move the light source to where you are happy (we will re-visit this during the moving of the objects, as this might take a little bit of playing with to get right). Try and get the end of the shadow to where you would like it. When the light is in the right place and the shadow length is good, the background may still be a little dark, in this case, you can increase the intensity of the light (or change the colour) within the properties panel of the light (marked in red).

One common issue is that the background is bright enough and the shadow is in the right place but there is a gap between the object and the start of the shadow. In this case, it may be that the extrusion (Z height) is not long enough. By clicking on the 3D Object, the navigation widget will appear. Once the widget is shown, clicking the ‘V’ key will bring up the second widget (there is a series of 3 widgets on the ‘V’ key), this is marked red, and is used for extrusion, bend, twist etc. The extrusion of the 3D Object can now be increased (if required), so that it intersect with the the background (remember in 3D space objects will interact with each other). The extrusion length can also be changed by using the properties panel (extrusion), marked in yellow. You should see the shadows move in real time (unless shadows have been turned off on the light properties).

Let us test the outcome and hit the render button.

Render is available in many locations, however, the main ones are marked in red (from the 3D menu / Render, on the properties panel in 3D mode and on the 3D panel, as well as others).

The quality of the renderer can be controlled by the Photoshop 3D properties menu option. A value of 5 will produce lovely results, but will take quite a long time, depending on the complexity of the models, lights etc.

Once the render has completed, you should see the shadows in place.

At the current time the top face of the tilde is flat, this can always be rounded or beveled at a later date, depending on what is required. By clicking on the object until the widget appears, then pressing the ‘V key twice, the widget for modifying the bevel and it’s strength (right) and the inflation and strength on the left will be shown.

The result can be more impactful, but will depend on the effect that is desired.

If the whole scene is inspected (by using the orbit camera option, marked in red) you will see how the models are working tougher to create the final effect.

The beauty of working in 3D is the opportunity that the camera brings. Different views (closeup or far away from the objects) can be controlled by the camera position, then rendered.

Because the lights and background are already configured, anything else in the scene will have the same effect.

There are so many other things to try in 3D. There are different colours, textures, camera positions, lights etc, can be applied to this image and it will look completely different.

One of my favourite and a really powerful new features in Photoshop CC 2014, is the ability to create a 3D LUT file by using just Photoshop Adjustment layers.

So, why is this so exciting?

Well, if you are making videos in Premiere Pro or even Photoshop, you might want to make it look more engaging and dramatic. Typically when videographers shoot video they prefer to shoot RAW, or flat (both small video cameras, DSLR’s or larger formats). This means that there is likely to be no contrast to the output. To add contrast or colour to the footage it will be graded, typically using something like Speed grade. In Photoshop terms it’s similar to making adjustments using adjustment layers.

DSLR film makers might come from a photographic background and may be required to shoot stills as well as video. A photographer may also know Lightroom or Photoshop, and maybe learning Premiere Pro to edit video. In some cases the photographer may want to utilise their Photoshop skills rather than learning colour grading software to make the film look amazing, but also might to make the stills and video look the same across the relevant parts of the film.

Let us take this short clip in Premiere Pro.

To allow Photoshop to perform it’s magic, we just need to grab a frame from the film/clip. Just position the play head to the right place on the clip (i’ve just used the first frame in this case), then click the ‘take snapshot’ icon (marked red). Save the JPG (or different file format) to a location that you’ll remember when you put it.

Now open the JPG inside Photoshop.

Notice that the layer is named ‘Background’, this is important for this function, as it will need a background base to create the LUT reference file.

Now we can use any of the adjustment layers to give the image the final effect.

Now we can just export the LUT file using the Menu item / Export / Color Lookup Tables.

The 3D LUT definition and output format screen will be displayed. You can de-select/select the formats that you need from here.

The files will be exported as separate files, so i’ve just created a folder to store the LUT files in.

Back in Premiere Pro, we will just add a simple adjustment layer from within the project panel. To create the adjustment layer click the button marked in red, then choose Adjustment layer (marked yellow).

Drag the adjustment layer (marked yellow) into the timeline, above the clip (marked pink). The duration of the adjustment layer may need to be changed by dragging the end points, or by moving the adjustment to another place.

Navigate over to the Effects panel and choose Lumetri (marked red), and drag this to the adjustment layer in the time line (marked yellow), then select the LUT file (they all create the same effect).

You will see the effect applied to the clip in the program monitor (this assumes that the adjustment layer is over the playhead),

Now, let us go back to Photoshop and apply the same LUT file to another part of the clip.

Then once you have the LUT dialog screen open, select the same LUT file as used in Premiere Pro (that was created in Photoshop earlier)

You can see that once the LUT file has been selected, the results are shown on the image.

The benefit of a LUT file is it’s portability, which means that if you need to share it with someone, you can without having to send the PSD file that it came from. However, the effects might be different dependent on what the LUT is trying to do.

How do I used LUT files?

I recently created a specific look for a series of images, rather than copy all adjustments across to each image, I created a LUT file from Photoshop and added this as an adjustment layer (Photoshop Menu / Layer / New Adjustment Layer / Colour Lookup).

Sometimes you will open a 3D model that is a single mesh into Photoshop, this might be due to the way that it was designed or the way that i was exported from a 3D package (STL files are single meshes). For some work you might want to work on individual components of the model and break it down (e.g. painting, texturing etc. Multiple meshes will give you more control of the texture UV maps and the ability to paint or add colour at specific sections of the mesh). Inside Photoshop CC on the 3D layer there is a cross section tool, available on any scene’s Properties panel. This tool will allow you to split a mesh on the X,Y or Z axis on a straight plane. This tool will essentially create a new mesh with a new UV map for each.

The following example will walk you through how to split a mesh, or in other words, how to take a single mesh and divide it into many meshes.

Take this 3D model of a pair of sun glasses frames. It may be required that individual components like the arms and the front of the frames need enhancing in different ways (e.g. painting, texturing etc or even printing as separate parts, for assembly later).

Each 3D object has a 3D menu that will give you access to different elements of the model in Photoshop.

Each model will have a UV map, UV maps can be opened by clicking on the individual element(s), under the diffuse layer on the models Layer properties panel. In this case there is only 1 UV map. If the model does not have a UV map, then you can create on by selecting the menu option 3D / Generate UV’s.

something similar to the the following 2D image will be displayed. This example shows the un-wrapped geometry . In this example, would be difficult to manage and enhance individual components. Ideally, a single UV map for each critical part might be a better way to work, it will also provide a higher resolution (especially when textures are involved, as you will see later on the body scan).

To do this, take the single mesh and use Photoshop to be split it into three. Let us first take off the front of the frames on this model. The fastest way to is to position the model for the cross section, in this case, use the secondary view (marked yellow), and use the top view (it will be easier in this case to line everything using the top section, but other views are available if required as this depend on the model and how it needs to be split). Models can also be moved around on the main canvas by using the 3 icons (bottom left of the main canvas, just above the axis controler. This view can be moved into the main canvas, by clicking on the transfer icon (top right) within the secondary view (marked yellow). If this view is not available in your Photoshop instance, then it maybe turned off, to turn it on, navigate to the View menu item/ Show / 3D Secondary view and select it.

once the new view has been loaded, navigate to the 3D menu panel / Scene (marked Yellow), then head over to the scene properties.

To see the cross section (marked red), check the ‘cross section’ option. The cross section will be shown on the main canvas using a plane by default. The visibility of the plane can be controlled using the opacity and visibility check boxes within this panel. The cross section can be moved on the X/Y and Z axis, as well as the ability to tilt on the X or Z axis (marked in purple below). Once the cross section is in the right place, the ‘apply the cross section’ button (marked in red below) can be pressed to split the mesh.

The new mesh is created (the front of the frames in this case), and the arms are hidden from view. The new mesh has been created in the 3D panel, and is automatically turned off from the display.

Note. Once the first cross section has been applied, I would recommend that the model parts are not moved, unless you would like to print or represent them as separate elements.

In this example, I would like to have the arms as independent meshes as well, To do this, the front of the frames need to be moved to once of the sides of the new cross section, other wise it may get caught up in the cross section and be split as well. The Objects can be moved by clicking on the them and showing the cage, then using the arrow to move the object around the scene. The cross section can be turned on and orientated to which ever axis suits the cut, then placed into position using the options in the properties panel (marked yellow) of the 3D menu item / scene. The icon marked in green is used to switch the cross section view to the opposite side.

Splitting the mesh(s) will create multiple diffuse maps under the 3D object in the Layers panel, under the diffuse section. This process should create a new UV for each element. However, if you need to change the resolution of the UV map, or re-create them, then it may be advisable to re-generate the UV’s (this option is available under the 3D menu / Generate UV’s).

The configuration dialog box that will be shown allows you to generate a different resolution textures, all the way to 4096 (the highest resolution). This size of resolution is the best for fixing textures, especially from 3D scans.
When checked :-

Merge Materials – Will merge materials on each mesh to be a single material

Preserve Appearance – If a material already exists on the mesh, it won’t be removed during the UV generation.

You will need to play with the options to get the best result from your files.

Clicking on the appropriate element on the diffuse section of the 3D layer will show the new;y generated UV’s.

As an example of what you may want to do at this stage, a simple example a gradient can be applied to the arm mesh only, on a separate layer in the Layers panel.

Returning to the 3D model, the texture has been applied.

An easier way to see the applied gradient is to select the Scene in the 3D menu, then choose the ‘Unlit Texture’ style of the surface properties (marked green), then if no geometry is visible, but you would like to see how it fits the mesh, then the ‘Lines’ can be turned on (marked orange).

Splitting the mesh is also good when trying to work on a high resolution texture from a 3D body scan.

Take this torso scan, when the UV textures are opened (accessed by double clicking on the diffuse layer under the 3D layer in the Layers panel),

you will see all the whole UV and the bitmap.

If it’s needed to work on the high resolution textures, then it’s much better to work in each object as a separate mesh. This objective can be achieved by apply a cross section that isolates the both meshes.

Doing this will get a much higher resolution UV / texture to work on.

Now the new UV map has been opened it can be treated like any other 2D photograph or image. If there are issues with the texture (typically issues can be things like cracks or areas where the scanner did not reach), the tools like content aware patch, clone heal, spot heal etc, can be used to fix it (the same as a regular photograph). Once the fixed texture has been saved it will then be applied to the mesh. The important element to remember here is the the 2D layer can incorporate any activity that might be applied to a normal image, including, Smart Objects, Additional layers, Filters, Adjustment layers etc etc. And any new activity will be stored as non destructive texture and will not be rasterised (unless this is performed on purpose). This means that in the future the texture is fully editable (as long as the original file is saved as a PSD or a TIFF).

In another example of using cross sections, it may be required to print a cross section of this milk bottle

Create a cross section as in the above examples then choose the scene from the 3D panel. To see the cross section, check ‘cross section’ on in the properties panel. Then move the cross section into position using the X,Y and Z modifiers. In the following example, the colour of the intersection has been changed to blue and the plane has been removed from the display. The blue lines of where the cross section is made can be seen on the main view.

Once the print settings menu is selected from menu item 3D / 3D Print Settings, a real time render will be shown in a wire frame box (this resembles the 3D printers print chamber).

Once the print button has been pressed, a view of the printed model will be displayed. At this point the 3D model will be a cross section and can be exported using the export button. The file that is created, will be suitable for the printer chosen in the 3D Printer Settings. In this example the MakerBot Replicator 2.

Adobe’s Winston Hendrickson opened the London 3D Printshow this morning and provided an insight into the trends of the creative industry and it’s future, by reflecting on how technology has created an opportunity to push innovation in ways that were never conceived previously.

PURSUIT OF A VISION

The artistic world never stops converting ideas into content and creations. Since the dawn of time we have been chasing better ways to make an impact and improve ways that this is achieved. Over the decades, there have been many advancements in technology that supports this creative vision and has enabled us to make a creative impact, but also allows is to be more effective in a faster time.

‘Creative expression is a uniquely human experience and people are the best creative engines’

We can break down where we are now from history in to three distinct areas :-

Film, Digital and Content.

Film

The arrival of the film camera in the early 1800’s opened up brand new possibilities for the visual arts. Pioneering artists such as Jerry Uelsmann embraced the invention of the camera and then found ingenious ways to extend what could be created with it.

Using techniques such as photomontage, combination printing, overpainting, and retouching, the work of these artists ranged from compensating for the limits of the technology (e.g. film emulsions being overly sensitive to blues causing skies to be overexposed), to create highly abstract works of imagination. These photographers opened up the artistic horizon and by doing so, prompted new inventions to happen.

Throughout this process a pattern emerged, each invention established new creative avenues and subsequently artists would then start to push the possibilities, taking ideas to different places. In turn, this activity led to new inventions and created a cycle that advanced the state of the art at an increasing rate over the previous years.

Digital

The arrival of the personal computer, Photoshop, and the digital cameras opened up vast new array of visual possibilities. More and more people were able to express themselves with images and explore a broad design space very quickly.

As Adobe moved from the Layers technology to the Healing Brush to the amazing Content Aware technology, new visionaries such as Bert Monroy, Maggie Taylor, and many others created groundbreaking new media that changed the world. Digital artists freely combined images, illustrations, paintings, 3D, and video in the pursuit of great work and were able to create highly compelling content.

Content

With the convergence of Mobile, Cloud and desktop computing a new dawn of digital media is starting to take form and the creative process is once again going through a dramatic change. More diverse ideas are being expressed in digital media, at a faster rate and touching more people via different channels than ever before. Social networks have had had a huge impact on the way people interact with each other, as an example, people now tell stories with images and video, than using traditional text. This year alone will see more photographs taken than ever before. The world and how people engage and consume information is changing once again and at an even greater than than ever before. To put this into context, over 4 Zettabytes of digital information was consumed last year and this was a 50% growth on previous year.

The Future is already here

3D Printing

The 3D print journey began with industrial manufacturing in the 1980s, where it was used for prototyping and replacement parts. Recently, 3D printing technology has been applied to the medical, dental and aerospace fields. This advancement has lead to the creation of customised content and now personalised parts. But, through recent advancements in hardware technology and material innovation, the opportunity for artists to easily produce custom physical objects has opened up.

Creatives can now take advantage of a broad range of materials and produce 3D printed pieces that can exist in physical space as well as the digital world. This shift marks an inflection point for the 3D printing industry, and a new era of 3D printed content is emerging from creative artists from around the world. This shift has clearly marked a change in this industry – it has moved from a technology business into a content business stimulating huge growth.

Benefits of 3D and 3D Printing

There are three core attributes that make content more compelling for consumers, which will drive demand for that content and the tools and technology that enable it:

· Aesthetic– the visual appeal of the object

· Familiarity– such as branded characters

· Personalised– embedding a piece of the consumer within the content

3D printing can deliver on all of these. But, for 3D printing to achieve its artistic potential the process of producing content must be efficient, accessible, and of high fidelity. If we expand on these areas, the opportunity will present itself.

· Efficient – Designing 3D printed content today is complex and laborious. It forces artists to devote too much time and energy on the process instead of the result. Tools for empowering artistic expression is the key to creating great content. There is a need for the tools to allow artists to pursue their vision, without the distraction of complexities of technology. Ultimately artists are artists and not engineers.

· Accessible – not limited to just skilled specialists. It is critical that 3D printing becomes available to all creatives and tools which are familiar to them.

· High fidelity – The future of 3D printed content is colour. In history, colour has probably had the largest impact on the way that we consume content and the impact on media – photography, television, and movies are clear examples of how we expect to see colour in today’s world. Colour was the tipping point in each of these cases. And now colour has come to 3D printing!

Artists of all kinds, from graphic designers to architects to fashion design, now have the broadest horizons in history and can express their vision in more ways than ever before.

Adobe Collaborations at the London 3D Print Show

At the London leg of the 3D print show, Adobe has collaborated with some pioneering artists that are embracing full colour 3D printing as well as classic single colour and taking their digital creations into the physical world.

Francois Veraart – Freelance Graphic designer

Francois Veraart, a freelance graphic designer who has produced illustrations and images for worldwide advertising campaigns including Nokia, Vodafone, Tommy Hilfiger, and Heineken. Francois has over 20 years of experience as an illustrator and graphic designer but only started working with 3D printing late last year and was blown away by being able to realize his designs in the physical world. He has the amazing ability to composite 3D designs into photographs to make 3D art come to life.

For his piece, Francois created something not traditionally seen in 3D, a 3D poster.

Tobias Klein is a world renowned 3D printing artist and architect. He orchestrates the roles of an architect, designer and cultural agitator as the creator-craftsman. Tobias Trained as an architect and is working as educator, Tobias focuses on generating a intersection of contemporary CAD techniques and CAD/CAM technologies with site and culturally specific design narratives, intuitive non-linear design processes, and historical architectural references.

Tobias’ most recent project is titled ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’. The work orients itself on the triptych altar piece “Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hieronymous Bosch and propagates a long standing struggle and clash between the man-made items and the naturally grown environment.

Tobias is a long time Photoshop user and until recently his 3D work has been mostly in monochrome. Photoshop CC and the 3D engine has allowed Tobias to easily switch to using full colour as part of his designs.

Francis Bitonti –Fashion Designer

Fashion designer Francis Bitonti, is creating a new manufacturing paradigm through his blend of computational design techniques and emerging manufacturing technologies. Francis is able to blur the lines between fashion and technology, and merge cutting edge digital design with manufacturing technologies, Franics sees computational methodologies, smart materials, and interactive environments as opportunities to create new aesthetic languages for our environment.

Francis describes his method as “a collaboration with artificial intelligence”

Francis Bitonti’s work has been published internationally in many prestigious institutions including the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and most recently has garnered media coverage for the 3D printed gown created for fashion icon Dita von Teese, which received numerous accolades and a great deal of public attention when it was debuted at Ace Hotel in New York City in 2013.

Francis’ piece is a capsule collection of shoes that is “grown” in the digital environment one pixel at a time. Each shoe in the collection renders a different system with unique structural configuration supporting the body differently each time.

All of our artists have used some Photoshop experimental technology from the Adobe labs that enables the use of gradient colour across their design, which was historically very difficult and time consuming to achieve. This special technology in Photoshop has also allowed the artists to streamlines their workflows, cutting literally hundreds of hours out of each persons process.

There are some amazing pieces of artwork in the London 3D Print Gallery and the Photoshop section has some art work that is truly

ground breaking!

In addition to our artists, Adobe would like to thank and acknowledge Stratasys for their work enabling Fracois, Tobias, and Francis to produce full gradient color content using the Objet 500 Connex 3 printer.

Adobe and Stratasys share a common vision about enabling color for 3D printing and they worked closely with us to prepare content for this show.

Summary

The creative process has always been changing and evolving, constantly extending our creative reach with each new invention and the ingenious ways artists use them. We’ve entered a period where we’re witnessing the most significant changes in the history of technology and these advances are empowering artists to redefine “ground breaking” once again.

Ourartistic horizonsare aswide as they ever have beenand, as Jerry Uelsmann said, no artist could wish for more than that.